Despite rain and a lack of volunteers, Blitz Day on Saturday for
Rebuilding Together, formerly called Christmas in April, was
successful and appreciated by those receiving repairs to their
home.

Rebuilding Together is a nationwide organization dedicated to
helping homeowners with repairs and upkeep of their homes. Blitz
Day, held annually for the past 13 years on the first Saturday
following graduation, allows volunteers to go out into the
community and start work on the homes which were accepted by the
organization.

“It went fairly well,” local president of Rebuilding Together
Keith Hatch said Sunday. “The rain did hurt us some. Several homes
we’ll have to wrap up on the work sometime this summer.”

Hatch said of the 13 homes he had planned for volunteers to work
on for Saturday, volunteers only worked on nine of the homes, with
two of them still needing additional work to finish up.

“We had four houses we didn’t get to because we were just shy
enough volunteers and the weather wasn’t cooperative,” Hatch said.
“There was about 20 (volunteers) that didn’t come due to the
weather for whatever reason. I think the rain in the morning
discouraged some people from coming out.”

Hatch said that out of 65 or 70 volunteers originally agreeing
to help on Saturday, about 50 of the volunteers actually showed up
to work.

Hatch said that even though there’s no guarantee in the
Rebuilding Together applications that the work the homes need will
be finished, he said they make every effort to try to finish up the
work at the homes during the summer.

“A lot of times when we pick out these homes and what work is
going to be done, when we begin into the project, unforeseen
problems come up,” Hatch said, citing rotted supports and
additional problems that weren’t anticipated as a few reasons the
projects can be prolonged and more expensive.

“Once we tear something down, we’re committed then,” Hatch said.
“In three of the homes that we know of, we found rotted window
sills … the siding fell off the side of one of the houses, and when
we were installing a furnace for a gentleman, we found his gas
lines were all a mess. We could smell gas and were concerned about
his safety. So we replaced all the lines.”

Some of the work still left to be done over the summer includes
installing new furnaces, a porch and a suspended ceiling at a few
of the homes.

On Saturday, volunteers were able to fix a cupboard, install
handicapped ramps, repair a sagging porch roof, paint, varnish trim
inside of a home and put up a porch and garage. Hatch said a week
or so before Blitz Day, they also had put in a bathroom sink and
did some plumbing work at one home.

Hatch said a few of the homeowners they helped Saturday were
“really excited and happy” and “real thankful” to the volunteers
for getting as much work done as they did in the rain. Other
homeowners Hatch described as “very appreciative” and “pretty
choked up with the work’s that’s done so far.”

“We did have one of the homeowners come to the picnic at the end
of the day,” Hatch said. “He’s 92-years-old, and he expressed his
appreciation to the volunteers. It meant a lot to everybody. He
walked quite a ways just to do that.”

Volunteers may offer to work, can be sought after by the
organization or participate as part of a larger group. Some of the
groups that Hatch said volunteered on Saturday include the McKean
County Children and Youth Services, the Independent Living Group
and men from the Federal Correctional Institution-McKean.

“(The Independent Living Group) worked really hard, painting in
and out of the rain,” Hatch said. “They had a lot of fun but also
worked really hard. We had a group of guys from FCI-McKean who were
excellent workers. They helped us accomplish a lot.”

Hatch pointed out that School and East Main streets group homes
from Beacon Light Behavioral Health Systems, under the direction of
Kelly Costello, helped put together both a luncheon for the
volunteers and the picnic at the end of the day.

“We definitely couldn’t have done it without their help,” Hatch
said. “And of course we can’t forget to thank those who contributed
financially. Without their help we wouldn’t be able to do the work
we do do. Without the board I have and their commitment and (all
their hard work), it just wouldn’t go.”